FALL CAMP DAY 12: QBs in spotlight

MARCUS POTTS

08/18/2005

PULLMAN -- Wednesday's short, crisp practice was followed by another light practice Thursday morning. Starting at 10:30am, the players worked through warm-ups, kickoff drills and ended with skelly and two-minute drills to close out a short practice that lasted about an hour. The lack of contact made the quarterback competition stand
out once again. In skelly, Josh Swogger and Alex Brink alternated back and forth, both looking sharp.

Coach Bill Doba praised the offense after practice for their crispness.

"We had a good practice this morning," Doba said. "They went out, in the
first plays of skelly, were all completions. The ball was thrown properly,
to the right guy, in the right spot and he caught it."

Don Turner showed nice anticipation, breaking up a Swogger pass after getting
a perfect jump out of his break. Adam Braidwood leapt into the air to halt
a Brink pass before it crossed the line of scrimmage, taking the pass in
the chest.

But, in the end, both signal callers looked to their tight ends – Troy Bienemann for Brink and Jesse Taylor for Swogger – to keep the chains
moving after poor plays on first and second, sometimes third, down.

For the drill, Swogger was one of six passing and Brink was three of eight.
The quarterbacks seem to be improving each day, even if neither is seemingly pulling
ahead in the competition for the lead spot.

Jessie Baines, 25, watched practice again Thursday. The former Puyallup High wide receiver with the interesting story has been seen
taking in the practices the past week and said he'll walk on after classes start on Monday.

The
cousin of Cougar safety Michael Willis, Baines attended Tacoma Community
College and played for the Pierce County Bengals in a Seattle amateur football league, allowing him to
retain two years of college eligibility, he said.

NCAA roster regulations stipulate only a certain number of players can
participate in the training camp session this August. Somewhere between 10
and 15 players are expected to join the team after classes start Monday.

INJURY REPORT
Thursday was medical update day at WSU, part of a new policy regarding the
release of medical information to the public.

Few changes were made to the reports of days past, but target return dates
for receiver Marty Martin (concussion) and receiver Greg Prator (broken
bone in hand) were issued in the release. Martin and Prator should both
make a full return Aug. 23, the first day of practices following the
beginning of classes Monday.

The timeline on running back Dwight Tardy is "out indefinitely," but his
fellow freshman back, DeMaundray Woolridge, was back practicing with the
team. Defensive end Adam West was also back, but is listed as out on the
injury release.